


Jason Grace is Not Broken

by apollocider



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Aromantic Jason, Asexual Jason, Asexual Percy, College, College AU, M/M, Queerplatonic Relationships, and they were ROOMMATES, aroace jason, aroace percy, aromantic percy, background Leo Valdez/Piper McLean, background Reyna/Thalia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:20:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25419100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apollocider/pseuds/apollocider
Summary: Jason Grace doesn't want a romantic relationship, and he doesn't understand why people think that's strange. He likes his friends more than he likes the idea of love.
Relationships: Jason Grace/Percy Jackson
Comments: 4
Kudos: 95





	Jason Grace is Not Broken

Jason had never understood what others meant when they talked about attraction. When he was six and playing in the sandbox at the community park, another kid, with dark hair and a toothless grin, had told him she wanted to marry him. Jason distinctly remembers saying no, and then the two played catch. That little girl was his now close friend, Piper McLean. When they were twelve, she told him she had a crush on their other best friend, Leo Valdez, and he remembers asking her why she would want to crush Leo? Of course, he knew now what a crush is, but Piper still liked to hold that one over his head.  
It was simply that Jason didn’t experience attraction in the same way that others did. While his friends were falling in love and getting their hearts broken, he was getting his first job at the movie theatre, and learning how to roller skate with Thalia. With her loud-and-proud attitude, she always told him that he didn’t need to stuff himself into a box and pretend to be normal. Not that his lack of attraction was abnormal, it just wasn’t something that people talked about.  
He sometimes wanted to hold hands with people, maybe kiss them on the cheek and see them smile, but he didn’t want a boyfriend or a girlfriend, he just wanted to cuddle with his friends. Sometimes he wanted to cuddle with one friend more than the rest.  
When Jason moved away to Olympia University, Home of the Greek Gods!, he roomed with his best friend, Leo, which basically meant he roomed with Leo and Piper, since the pair was attached at the hip most times. His biology lab partner was called Reyna, and she had flirted with him for a week until she saw a framed picture of Jason and Thalia on his desk, and promptly asked for Thalia’s number instead. He happily obliged, and the two became close friends instead, as he introduced her to his sister. Thalia hadn’t complained at all, and the two had worked out pretty well.  
When the raven-haired boy from his ocean studies class in his second year knocked on Jason’s door, mumbling an absurd amount of curses, Jason had let him in and asked what happened, and they hung out all night. Percy still hadn’t told Jason why he was upset, but he figures that was okay, since they’d brushed hands once and that’s all Jason could think about for the next three days, wondering if maybe he did feel attraction after all. But he didn’t, he liked Percy, and he liked to cuddle him and he liked when they hung out and sang and cried and were vulnerable with each other. One day when Jason’s father had asked about Jason's boyfriend, he had a headache thinking about it, because I don’t want to be his boyfriend, I want to be his friend. But Jason didn’t bring that up again until Percy showed up at his dorm room at 3am, looking terrified and cold, asking Jason in a quiet, shaking voice, if they were dating. And all Jason could do was hold his hand and try to calm him down, telling him in no unclear terms that he liked Percy a lot, and he loved to be his friend, his absolute best friend. He wanted to spend time with him a lot, and he wanted to rent an apartment together next year and cuddle, and cook for each other, but he didn’t want to make out or have sex or be his boyfriend.  
Percy sighed in relief and wiped his tears with a bright smile, and whispered a quiet agreement, before they held each other in Jason’s bed as they slept until noon, causing Jason to sleep through his 11am ancient politics lecture, but the smile on Percy’s face as they made lunch together that day made up for the six page extra credit essay he’d have to scramble together that weekend.  
Jason didn’t feel attraction, but he liked Percy a lot, and that was all he needed.


End file.
